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Specifications:

- DVD-Video

- Single-sided

- Dual layer layer

- Region 1

- Run time: approx. 99 minutes

- Subtitles: English

- Scene selection: Static menu

- Package: Keep case

Video Features:

- Widescreen (2.35:1) or Fullscreen

Audio Features:

- English: Dolby Digital 5.1

- Cantonese: Dolby Digital 5.1

Bonus Materials:

- The-Making-Of featurette
- Jackie Chan's audio commentary

- Music video

- Jackie Chan's talent file

Release Dates:

Theatrical Release:      1999

DVD Release:              07/11/00

Review Date:               07/17/00

List price:                     $ 25.00

Avg. on-line price:       $ 17.50

Pre-order price was:    $ 16.25

Starring: Jackie Chan, Shu Qi, Anthony Liang, 
     Hua-jian Zhou, Xian-qi Ren, Song-yong Chen, 
     and Yan-lin Jin
Director: Vincent Kok

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Studio: Golden Harvest (Columbia TriStar)

Movie: A-        Video: A        Audio: A-        Extras: B+

Summary: Bu (Shu Qi) is an innocent, romantic village girl who believes in a fairy 
   tale of finding her soul mate.  Upon receipt of a message in a bottle, she travels 
   to Hong Kong in search of her true love.  She eventually finds and falls in love 
   with C.N. Chan (Jackie Chan), who is too busy running his multi-million dollar 
   business and fighting off his business and personal rivals.  This feature film 
   from China is refreshing, departing from typical Jackie Chan action movies, and 
   is a treat for action fans and romantic comedy fans alike.

The Story

Bu is a country girl who grew up in a fishing village and dreams of a city life that her mother often talks about.  Her belief in a fairy tale of finding her true love leads her to board a plane in Taiwan to fly to Hong Kong in the hopes of finding her true love, Albert Lyu (Anthony Liang), whom she thinks is destined to be her soul mate.  However, she soon finds that Albert isn't what she had hoped.  While on an ocean photography shoot with Albert, Bu spies on the the handsome C. N. Chan (Jackie Chan).  Bu meets Chan in trying to rescue him from a seemingly difficult situation.  They became stranded on a small island.  While watching shooting stars that night, Bu made a secret wish...

Once they were rescued, Bu discovers that C.N. is a rich tycoon, having made his fortunes from recycling and selling trash.  Chan's business and personal rival is no other than his childhood best friend, Howie Nei-hua Lu (Hua-jian Zhou).  Howie loves to defeat Chan in business, in love, and in sports.  Howie even goes as far as hiring a championship kick boxer (Brad Allen) to fight Chan.

Unlike most recent Jackie Chan movies, Gorgeous is a romantic comedy in fairytale fashion.  The story makes a point of impersonal relationships in this modern electronic society and emphasizes the importance of having dreams and romance.  It has the obligatory martial art scenes.  Actually, the kick boxing scenes were very well done, reinforcing the sometimes forgotten virtue of good sportsmanship.  The fight sequences were done without excessive violence or blood letting.  In fact, the movie is refreshing "clean" as it shows no guns, no killing, and is free of foul language.  We'd like to see more of these movies made.  Really.

The Extras

The DVD features a "the making of" featurette, Jackie Chan's audio commentary, a music video, and Jackie Chan's talent file.  In "the making of" featurette, we learn that Jackie Chan had always wanted to make a romantic comedy with action scenes, in a clean environment (i.e., no smoking), with no foul language, sex scenes, and a minimum of excess violence.  He achieved his goal in this self-produced movie which is unlike any of his other movies.  The director, Vincent Kok, talks about his selection of Brad Allen (who is smaller and faster than Chan) to star as C.N. Chan's worthy boxing opponent.  Jackie Chan's talent file mentions his ten years of training in the Peking Opera and his early screen career at age nine as a child stuntman.

Video & Audio

The image quality of this DVD is beautiful and the colors are vibrant.  The digital surround sound certainly packs the punches, particularly in the well choreographed fight scenes, and plays tribute to the beautiful Cantonese ballads.

Recommendation

This is truly a first class Chinese-produced romantic comedy and action film.  We recommend our readers view this film with the original Cantonese dialog and soundtrack (using English subtitles), though an English dialog/dub is included.  This is a refreshingly clean approach to film making--no senseless and excess violence, no foul language, and no obligatory sex scenes.  It is a worthy DVD title in any martial arts and action film collection, particularly since it contains two particularly well choreographed kick boxing scenes (among other Jackie Chan-style "fight" sequences).  The Gorgeous DVD would also appeal to romantic and comedy film collectors as well.

As miss Shu Qi says in "the making of" featurette, "please don't pirate this VCD [Video CD]".  Instead...

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E-mail: Editor@TimeForDVD.com

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